Eagles co-founder Don Henley has emerged as a major financial backer of several Texas Democrats, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to statewide candidates and to a super PAC supporting U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Mr. Henley, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who grew up in Cass County near Texarkana, gave about $300,000 to Democratic state campaigns in Texas during the first half of the year, according to the Chronicle, a tally Breitbart News repeated Tuesday.
That includes $25,000 in April to Jon Rosenthal, the Democratic candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, his largest contribution of the year’s first half. Mr. Rosenthal said he was excited to hear from “a literal rock ’n’ roll legend,” in comments the Chronicle published.
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Mr. Henley also gave $50,000 to Clayton Tucker, a Democratic candidate for agriculture commissioner, and more than $100,000 to Vikki Goodwin, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, according to the San Antonio Current.
Separately, Mr. Henley has given $250,000 to Lone Star Rising, a super PAC backing Mr. Talarico, and has made individual contributions to Mr. Talarico and to Bobby Pulido, a Democratic congressional candidate in South Texas, the Current reported. The PAC has spent more than $6 million on digital ads for Mr. Talarico since late August, Newsweek reported, citing the Chronicle.
Mr. Talarico faces Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Nov. 3 election, and early voting runs Oct. 19 to Oct. 30. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Oct. 3 showed Mr. Talarico at 51% and Mr. Paxton at 45% among 615 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. Mr. Paxton and his allies have outspent Mr. Talarico and his supporters on the airwaves, $193 million to $45 million over a recent five-week stretch, according to the Chronicle as relayed by Newsweek.
The last Democrat Texas voters elected to the U.S. Senate was Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.
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